In the aftermath of massive pandemic-related disruptions to family planning services, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that women can be taught to give themselves contraceptive injections. This is one of the practical measures to ensure the continuity of family planning services during epidemics that is contained in the WHO’s updated family planning handbook, which […] Continue reading ->
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT – As global delegations fight to keep the dream of limiting warming to 1.5C within reach, plastic pollution contaminating aquatic life, soil quality and the human body, is skyrocketing. The relentless growth of demand for plastics driven by subsidies for fossil fuels, coupled with the failure of recycling and waste management systems […] Continue reading ->
Deadlock may once again be the name of the game at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights—TRIPS, for short. A communication from Switzerland and Mexico questioning the need to extend the waiver on intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines to therapeutics and diagnostics is laying bare the divergences […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments worldwide to step up the supervision of vaccine manufacture and distribution, especially when public funding is used in vaccine R&D or manufacture, so as to prioritise essential vaccines and ensure they are distributed equitably. The global health agency’s call to governments came as it released its annual […] Continue reading ->
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – The International Renewable Agency (IRENA), on Tuesday, said it would pump $1billion into a new effort that would electrify health facilities, along with food storage and agriculture, with solar power, while the World Bank said it also plans to triple its investments in solar electrification efforts to reach 100,000 health facilities […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) member states are currently negotiating a pandemic treaty to prepare for the next pandemic – but how can representatives of civil society have a seat at the table? What are the rules of civil society participation inside and outside decision-making spaces and what should they be? These questions were discussed […] Continue reading ->
In 1918, when the notorious Spanish flu started to sweep through the world, there was very little physicians could do to help those infected. A century later, things have radically changed. This is partially due to a network of laboratories in dozens of countries that for the past 70 years have been collaborating to fight […] Continue reading ->
On Friday, the Ebola taskforce of Kassanda district in Uganda delivered the remains of four people that succumbed to the the virus for burial to their home village of Kitongo. Three of the bodies belong to family members who died from exposure to the virus after they exhumed a loved one they had lost to […] Continue reading ->
Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, has undertaken to adapt its approach to procuring vaccines in order to support African vaccine manufacturing. In a plan released on Thursday, Gavi has committed to placing “a higher value on the benefits of diversification to supply security, with a focus on Africa”. The 10-point plan, developed in consultation with […] Continue reading ->
Ahead of the global climate talks in Egypt, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments to expedite fossil fuel phase out and transition into clean energy. “Climate change is already impacting health in many ways, through more frequent and extreme weather events, more disease outbreaks, and more mental health issues,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, […] Continue reading ->